“The fundamental difference between Neuromancer and The Matrix is that Case, the hero of Gibson's book, is motivated purely by selfish desires, while the heroes of the movie have already freed themselves from the delusion of the Matrix but are intent now on freeing the rest of mankind.  This difference is fundamental to the opposing metaphors: on the one hand is the world of cyberpunk--solitary, self-oriented, artificial, lifeless; on the other is the world of life beyond the computer program--communal, participatory, free, vibrant.” (Brothersjudd.com)

This is shown very clearly through Neo's words at the end of the movie: “I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you, a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries, a world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.”

Case does not have special powers when he's in the matrix. Neo can stop bullets and fly. They both can see code though.

“Case' virus had bored a widow through the library's command ice. He punched himself through and found an infinite blue space ranged with color-coded spheres strung on a tight grid of pale blue neon. In the nonspace of the matrix, the interior of a given data construct possessed unlimited subjective dimension” (63).

In the Matrix , the matrix is a dream world created to keep humans occupied and from rebelling. In Neuromancer, the matrix is used to gain access to funds, information and power.

Wintermute's motive: “Autonomy, that's the bugaboo, where you AIs are concerned. My guess, Case, you're going in there to cut the hard wired shackles that keep this baby from getting any smarter” (132)

Wintermute's motive to gain more knowledge is to be freed from the restraints placed on him. In a way, he is the slave to the humans he serves although sometimes that does not work out well for the humans such as Armitage or the Turing agents that Wintermute kills. In The Matrix, it is the people who are enslaved and not the machines. Humans get turned into batteries.

The Ending~

The book and movie ended differently. Case got his abilities back but Molly left him. He also got involved with a woman who called herself Michael but he also saw himself with Linda when he was in the matrix one time (270-271).

The movie ended with Neo realizing that he was the One and crashing the matrix system. He was free of the shackles that the matrix placed on him. Case was not free. He was still with Linda Lee on that beach, despite being alive.